Yoga and Pilates Workouts for Dummies Reviewed

A workout that balances both the body and the mind can be found in Basic Yoga Workout for Dummies... Fundamental postures are explained and demonstrated slowly with an emphasis on breathing and motion... Sara Ivanhoe teaches 12 basic poses that are termed the "daily dozen" and offers challenges and modifications to each of these moves... Ivanhoe presents these concepts in an approachable and calming manner that adds to the overall relaxed feeling that this session exudes.

Newcomers to the practice of yoga will learn jargon, essential postures, and focusing techniques... Experienced participants may find some information redundant, but Ivanhoe offers such thorough explanations about each posture that you can't help but expand your existing knowledge of yoga... As the mountain pose, standing forward bend, and downward facing dog are explained (not to mention the nine other poses within the "daily dozen"), proper body alignment becomes the focus.

Meticulous attention is given to the connection between breathing and body movement with several reminders to keep the spine in "neutral alignment"... This session ranks great for safety and content and makes yoga accessible to anyone who "always wanted to, but never did"... This is a substantial program that can introduce the basics and build your understanding of yoga.

Customer Review: Pilates Workout for Dummies

A 60-minute DVD, ideal for both the first-time and intermediate Pilates exerciser... In the Basic Workout, well-toned instructor Michelle Dozois clearly and patiently presents 18 classic Pilates mat exercises, first demonstrating and explaining, then doing 6 to 10 repetitions... She explains what the Powerhouse is and how to use it, and covers the basics you'll need if you've never done this before (or need to be reminded), offering alignment tips, breathing, and extremely clear instructions for executing each movement.

Dozois suggests modifications for making the exercises easier (or, occasionally, more challenging), and includes cautions against common mistakes and reminder tips for doing each exercise effectively... This is a fine first workout for Pilates novices... The Intermediate Workout consists of some of the Basic exercises and several new ones, all done at a faster pace and with more challenging instructions... This is a workout you can progress with! More Information

The Total Mix Combination Yoga and Pilates Workout

A compete, total body workout, the Total Mix Yoga DVD from Video Action Sports contains the Quick Fix Blender which allows you to create your very own customized workout from nine separate segments, to produce over 100 different combinations ranging from 10 to 30 minutes.

Customer Review: Quick Fix Total Mix: Versatile and Convenient Pilates/Yoga

Quick Fix total mix is a versatile program that contains four ten minute Pilates and four ten minute Yoga routines... You can mix and match between all the various sequences via a matrix feature which lets you program 3 sequences of your choice in a row... It's very easy to use and makes it so that you don't have to keep messing around with the remote once you decide on the order you want to practice at any given time.

I wouldn't recommend this for stone beginners in either Pilates or Yoga... I would suggest getting something like Stott Pilates Basics to learn the fundamentals of Pilates... I would recommend something like Yoga Zones Basics for Beginners (which contains 2 twenty minute routines) to learn some fundamentals of Yoga.

Once you have a basic background in both Pilates and Yoga I think this Quick fix DVD is a great tool to be able to use in order to have a lot of variety in your practice while fitting it into a short amount of time... You can determine the emphasis you want... For example, I always do two Pilates, I always start with the Abs and then select one of the other Pilates routines and end with one Yoga routine as a nice finish... That's my personal preference but of course you have the option to do whatever you prefer... You can do all Pilates or all Yoga as well.

Anyway, this program is very well done, both the Pilates and the Yoga instructor (who actually appears in a few Yoga Zone Videos, she is a Yoga Zone Senior teacher) do a great job leading through the practices along with two students... One of the student's is always a modifier showing a less intense version of the various poses.

Another program I enjoy that's set up in a similar way (though only pilates) is Liz Gillies Progressive Pilates... It's a wonderful program with ten minute sequences as well... It doesn't have the matrix, but you can easily select the order you want via the remote, it's slightly less convenient but so well done in terms of instruction (she builds all the routines incrementally to warm you up into each movement) that it's worth the miniscule amount of effort required to use it.

If you have 30 minutes available to practice and you're ready to move into the next level of Pilates, then I'd highly recommend Hilary Burnett's Intermediate Pilates program... It covers the complete Pilates intermediate series plus includes poses from the advanced series as well... It's beautifully done, has a great flow and Hilary Burnett is an amazing instructor!

Customer Review: Duller than dull...

I have most of the rest of the quick fix series and I love them... This one is horrible... The Pilates person spends about 8 minutes explaining and about 2 minutes doing, and the exercises weren't that great... The Yoga person tries to talk in this soothing voice, but it just comes out stilted and weird... The exercises are OK... Both instructors use a lot of weird, descriptive terminology (like "lower your body down on to your sit-bones", translated "sit on your butt")... Overall, you can do better than this DVD.
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